Facebook Redefines Line Between ‘Freedom of Speech’ and ‘Horror of Holocaust’

Eleven years ago, Brian Cuban, Dallas attorney, author, and brother to Mark Cuban, blasted Facebook publicly for “promoting and encouraging hatred,” following a conversation with a friend who runs the Jewish Internet Defense Force, a group that monitors and tries to eradicate anti-Semitic online content. 

Facebook never responded.  

Today, it finally decided to do something about it, announcing Monday morning, October 12, that it would now be updating its hate speech policy “to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.”

Cuban, who is of Russian Jewish descent, has spent years writing about his fight to have Holocaust-denial pages (and content) removed, sharing his frustrations on why Facebook should be taking the years’ worth of anti-Semitic content seriously. 

Despite what many believe to be “censorship,” it’s anything but, simply because Facebook is a private company. In a 2009 interview, Cuban told CNN that “there is no First Amendment right to free speech in the private realm.” 

Immediately following Facebook’s announcement Monday morning, I reached out to Cuban to see how, twelve years later, Facebook’s decision impacts the Jewish community. 

He responded to me later that afternoon via text message:

“I think that it’s good that the Jewish community on Facebook can now log on knowing that Facebook takes anti-Semitism more seriously, and make no mistake, Holocaust Denial is a form of anti-Semitic hate speech,” he told me Monday afternoon. “What is amazing, is that Facebook took so long to get here. They have been aware of this issue for over a decade. Myself and others brought it to their attention.”

Today, more than 250 white supremacist organizations, in addition to 22.5 million pieces of hate speech, have just been taken down thanks to Facebook finally acknowledging that it could no longer stand by and watch as content denying the Holocaust continued to plague its platform.

Monika Bickert, VP of Content Policy at Facebook specifically added that “enforcement of these policies cannot happen overnight,” continuing that “there is a range of content that can violate these policies, and it will take some time to train our reviewers and systems on enforcement.”

But this requires Facebook to actually interact with users and take “Reports” seriously, which in many cases, rarely happens. Thanks to the almighty algorithm and the “anonymous” human behind the Facebook Support response that deems the reported content to “not be a violation.”

So how exactly has Facebook contributed to the dissemination of such horrid content?

Using the “snowball” method on Facebook, where a user clicks suggested content based on prior activity, a 2020 report found that “when a user follows public pages containing Holocaust denial content,” Facebook actively promoted related content. The investigation by U.K.-based counter-extremist organization, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), Facebook search results would bring up suggestions for denial pages on Facebook, including recommended links to publishers who sold revisionist and denial literature, among other things.

Back in 2009, Brian Cuban, lawyer, author, and brother to Mark Cuban, blasted the company out publicly for “promoting and encouraging hatred,” to which Facebook never responded. Following Cuban’s outcry, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch also followed suit, calling the company “stubbornly proud” of its stance.

I spoke with Cuban following Facebook’s announcement about the impact the company’s decision has on users across the world, particularly the Jewish community.

In 2018, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League called out Zuckerberg for his 2018 comments, emphasizing that Facebook’s silence on this only encourages the “willful, deliberate, and longstanding deception tactic by anti-Semites that is incontrovertibly hateful, hurtful, and threatening to Jews.”

Back in May 2019, a Wall Street Journal report revealed that Facebook executives, including Zuckerberg, declined to moderate the platform after evidence that its algorithms “exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.” This has, of course, led to the birth of platforms like Parler.

Thankfully, Facebook has come to its senses, laying the groundwork for how social media platforms continue to address the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. 

World Jewish Congress President, Ronald S. Lauder responded to Facebook’s announcement on Monday, acknowledging that “by taking the critical step to remove Holocaust denial content, Facebook is showing that it recognizes Holocaust denial for what it truly is–a form of antisemitism and therefore hate speech.”

Lauder also described the dangers that social media platforms perpetuate when it chooses to remain silent:

“Denying the Holocaust, trivializing it, minimizing it, is a tool used to spread hatred and false conspiracies about Jews and other minorities. Today’s announcement sends a strong message that Facebook will not allow its platform to be misused to promote hate.

As for the impact Facebook’s decision will have on the future of social media and First Amendment arguments, Cuban stands by his argument from 12-years ago, arguing that this still isn’t a First Amendment believes this is just another step in the right direction:

“There will be those well-meaning and not-so-well-meaning that claim ‘censorship,’ but it’s not a First Amendment issue. Facebook is a private company. They have the right to create an environment, where we can all feel safe and welcome. Banning Holocaust Denial posts is another step in that direction.”

And to you Mr. Zuckerberg, if you are reading this, you have a unique power here. You have complete control over the dissemination of information that impacts each and every one of us, domestically and abroad. As Spiderman taught us, with great power, comes great responsibility. You have a responsibility to protect users as well as upholding the values you were also raised on: that you are a Jew and to defend our people against those who wish to see us removed or silenced following the Holocaust.